Resting heart rate low

For months now my heart rate has been quite low usually under 60. One year ago I had my daughter and with my pregnancy I experienced tachycardia and my resting pulse was about 130, same with my son who was born in 2006. So this low resting pulse is new to me. I do exercise about 3-4 times a week for 30+ minutes on a stationary bike but am defintely not an athelete. However some evenings at nights my pulse will be in the 40's. The other night it was 41. I use a BP machine to record it. I have no other symptoms and feel fine when it is low like that but it has me worried.
While pregnant I had echos, wore a Holter monitor and also an event monitor for 2 weeks and have also have EKG's and a stress test. Everything has come back normal.
Is it not dangerious for my pulse to be 41? I worry about it alot.

[Alisonj29]

Anyone???

[BLM_56]

Alison, first off, why are you concerned?  Have you been to see a Cardionlogist - or at least your family Dr. - about this?  The first step would be to see your GP and find out what he/she says.  I am reliably informed that a pulse rate of 41 is not dangerous.  In fact even a rate of 30 BPM (that's one beat every OTHER second for the math challenged ;-) ) is not lethal.  You probably wouldn't stay conscious long at 30BPM but you would not likely expire.  As for 41BPM that is fine.  They set pacemakers to somewhere in the 40s to do some of the diagnostics.  I enjoy being at 40BPM.  It makes me veel very "mellow".  Kinda like a shot of Versed without the needle stick.

The very worst that might happen is that - somewhere WAAAAYYYYY down the road - you might - operational word MIGHT - need to have a pulse generator (pacemaker) inmplanted to ensure that when you have a spell of bradycardia (the medical term for slow heart beat) you are maintained at a workable minimal level.  

So make an appointment.  If everything else is normal than there is no need to worry.  Worrying helps no one - least of all the worrier.  What was it the Carpenter's Son said about worrying?  For a Jewish boy from the hinterlands who grew up dirt poor, he was pretty smart.  Said a LOT of good things.  Worrying is just borrowing trouble from a day sometime in the future.  The only thing is when the day arrives it hass all the trouble it was gonna have anyway.  Borrowing trouble from tomorrow doesn't reduce tomorrow;s troubles at all.  One thing for sure is fretting about your heart is absolutely NOT going to do your heart any good.

Pray the serenity prayer.  My version of it is:
God grant me the strength (and courage) to change what I can;
The serenity to accept what I cannot change
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Sounds like this is a serenity issue.

Regards,
Bionic Bill Mullins
"Every day I wake up on the green side of the sod is a good one."

[Alisonj29]

I am severe anxiety and that is why it worries me,. I tend to google and it comes up with all sorts of scary things that could be wrong. Basically I am trying to see if anyone else out there has a similar problem. I have seen a cardiologist but not for the low pulse rate. My doc just tells me as long as I feel ok then its ok. But sometimes that isnt reassuring at all.

[Hopeful39]

I just left the cardiologist a few hours ago after discussing this same issue.  I had my first lone a-fib in March (cardioverted on medication).  Just prior to this and since then,  I have been exercising on a treadmill 3 to 4 times a week for 30 minutes.  Prior to starting, my resting pulse was 72 to 74 bpm.  After a few months of cardio exercise, my resting pulse is down to mid to low 50's.  

Today, based on my current condition of palpatations (most days), my cardiologis wanted to put me on a beta blocker to lower blood pressure and maybe help with anxiety.  However, after we discussed my low heart rate, we decided to go with an ACE inhibitor.  

I specifically asked about my own pulse rate which he said was of no concern for someone that is physically active and exercising regularly.  He further stated that the only concern would be that if during exercise, the heart rate did not climb to a higher rate in a reasonable amount of time.  

If there is no lightheadedness or tired feelings, you are probably ok.  I only say this because I specifically discussed it with the cardiologist.  I recommend you do the same.

[liz2]

Hi, I also went to my doctor a few months ago with a pulse in the 40's. I had no symptoms of a low heart rate. He listened to my heart while taking my pulse at the same time. It turns out my pulse felt slow because my heart was in bigeminy (beat,pvc,beat) and you could only feel the strong heartbeat in the pulse.
When my pulse is in the 50's or low 60's I am usually in trigeminy. I had over 11,000 pvc's on a 24 hour holter.

I would go back to the doctor and have them repeat your tests - maybe something has changed.

Anyway, just wanted to give you another reason your pulse could be low - a little less scary than true bradycardia!

Good luck.